There was a lot of arguing and complaining about the guildmaster’s unfair ruling when we got back to the knowledge station. Each of our masters was present, and they calmed emotions and got us refocused.

  I was okay with how things turned out. At least, I was happy that I had not been ejected from the games.

  “I’m proud of you, Gwydion.” Master Glimmerblade said with a sad smile. “Both what you did and why you did it. Now, let’s get you healed up, replace missing casting points, and you are permitted to replace any magical armor that got used up.

  “I’m good with my armor, I think. Besides, I only have a Wizard Armor in a ring as backup.”

  He nodded. “Replace used rings, rearrange your choices for combat, and get ready for some fast action. You remember how fast things happen in the first moments of the opening of the free-for-all, right?”

  I did. Every year, the first moments once the trumpet blared were intense. Mage area of effect spells, warrior special attacks, and even priest ranged incapacitation spells all happened quickly. It was impossible to see it all.

  “Yes, master. I have a plan.”

  He smiled. “Good, now let’s get you all set.”

  The other mages and I quickly arranged ourselves and got similar pep talks from our masters. I assumed this was happening for the warriors, thieves, and priests as well. This was a battle of apprentices, but guild honor was on the line, and stories about this Guildfest event will be talked about for the following year.

  A trumpet blare called forth all four guild groups. We assembled in guild groups in front of the bard guildmaster’s podium, exactly where we had started a couple of hours ago. However, we arrived as an orderly group, and with even more anticipation than before.

  “Congratulations, guild champions!” He greeted us, once more using the magical vocal rod that projected his voice across the Arena.

  “Facing and overcoming the many tasks assigned was difficult, and we are all proud of you. Aren’t we, Keelwell?” He said the last with arms upraised to the crowds, which had swelled from a thousand or so to ten thousand or more.

  Maybe a lot more.

  It was hard to tell. I never learned just how many people the Arena could hold. I never thought about it until now. Attending events was different. I was in the stands, not looking up into the stands.

  “The next event is, of course, the much anticipated Free-For-All!” More applause greeted his words. This had always been my favorite event as an apprentice.

  Technically, I was still an apprentice, although after the past several days, I think I had begun to see myself as a journeyman.

  “But before we begin, there are some special recognitions and titles to award.” The crowd grew animated as people guessed or called out who would win the Keelwell Apprentice Guild's Champion awards for each of our guild groups.

  “We begin in reverse alphabetical order…” he announced with a grin. He was greeted with cheers and boos from those in the crowd, who were hoping to hear their favorite guild group first.

  “Our warrior champion, earning the title of Keelwell Apprentice Guild's Champion for Warriors, is…Broman the Barbarian!”

  The crowd erupted appreciatively as a barbarian warrior stepped forward and received a gold medal from a warrior I recognized, but did not know personally. He was Sam, the guildmaster of the warrior guild, and the Arena was his guild hall.

  Sam was a big man, so he did not have to stretch to place the medal around the barbarian’s head, but I noticed that it barely fit. The typical gold chain that accompanied the medal was replaced with a thick leather cord.

  The barbarian was huge.

  He was also a golden cognito, like me. Somehow, he got into the game early. And that meant he was going to be a real threat in the free-for-all.

  The two warriors clasped arms, and the barbarian returned to his fellow warriors. Each clasped arms with him, respectfully.

  “Moving on to the thieves, our champion is…Hegel of the Burglars!”

  The crowds had mixed emotions. Thieves were not well loved as a rule, but burglars were semi-legitimate and often worked with adventuring groups as they solved local problems (such as fighting off monsters) and plundered the odd dungeon and tomb.

  She received her gold medal and chain, and walked back to her guild group. She was met with a couple of congratulations, but mostly the others seemed to look at her in resentment. Either she was not well-liked, or there was jealousy among the ranks.

  If the mages hadn’t gone through what we did at the very end of the endurance station, I’d have expected a cool reception much like that for our winner. Now, I wondered how we would respond. I decided that regardless of who received the award, I would be gracious. They had all stood behind me, and I owed them that.

  The guildmaster looked around at the crowd and then announced, “The winner of Keelwell Apprentice Guild's Champion for Priests is…Simon the Monk of Bloomtown, from the capital.”

  I cheered loudly for my friend. Bido joined me by whistling loudly, as did Biff among the warriors, and Steven raised his hands and clapped loudly along with most of the other priests.

  Simon bowed to receive his medal from the hands of the Abbott, who then bowed in return. When he returned to the group of priests, he received handshakes and back slaps from his peers. There was less drama than the loud hand clasps and slaps among the warriors, but it was warmer than the thief champion had received.

  “And now, among much anticipation and a little intrigue…” I felt like the guildmaster was staring at me when he said that, “The Keelwell Apprentice Guild's Champion for mages is…Connor Brightstone of the elementalists guild!”

  The crowd erupted, although I could hear a mixture of boos and complaints mixed in. All the champion mages cheered loudly for him, still riding high off our recent bonding. My face flushed a little as I caught a glance from the guildmaster, but he only nodded at me. I was not sure what that meant, but it unnerved me.

  When Connor returned, we all patted him on the back, clasped arms, and in a few cases, he got hugs.

  When I clasped arms, he whispered, “This should have been yours. Zero points in the last task cost you the win. I didn’t earn this.”

  His face was set with a frown.

  I said, “Connor, life is not fair. You ended on top, and you stood by my side while doing it. I am proud of you, and don’t you dare let us down by thinking you didn’t earn that.”

  He stared hard at me for a moment and then broke out into a relieved grin. “Thanks, Gwyd.”

  Bido leaned over to me as Connor moved to another mage who cheered for him. “Master Nanren told me that we both tied, exactly, for second place. It appears that I was also penalized for threatening to resign over the levitation affair.”

  I smirked. “We tied, huh?”

  “Yep. As it should be, according to my master.”

  The master of ceremonies continued. “Now, champions, make your way over to the platform where the awardees will choose their positions, and random lots will choose the remaining spots.”

  We made our way over to the raised platform, and after the group winners climbed the stairs and chose their numbered positions, the rest of us drew from a bag and then climbed up after them.

  The main platform was divided into fifty-six circles, each ten feet in diameter and roughly twenty-five feet away from its nearest neighbors. Some were located near the edges and others were clustered in the center.

  The four champions each chose positions based on their own strategies. The barbarian chose his spot right at the top of the stairs near an edge of the platform and stared hard at each of us as we walked up. His unusually large height, along with the higher position of the platform, meant he towered over us as we climbed. It was a clear intent to intimidate us.

  And, it sort of worked.

  As I reached the top, he offered his arm and we clasped hands. “Welcome, brother.” He said intently.

  It was a sign of respect between golden cognitos.

  His intense arm squeeze was painful, and so I did not feel like he was being chummy.

  “Good luck and congratulations,” I replied.

  My lot was number 8. It was my favorite number, and I took it as a good sign. According to mages, a multiple of seven would have been better, with forty-nine being perfect.

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  I learned later that Connor chose forty-nine, which placed him with opponents all around. My number eight put me on an edge, which was where I wanted to be. My back would be safe, and I only needed to watch in front and the sides.

  That little mistake would cost me later.

  We all took our positions, and the master of ceremonies got us started. “At the sound of the horn, you will begin, and movement is allowed anywhere on the platform, but not beyond it. If you leave the platform, you are out. If you take damage sufficient to destroy your totem, which should flash yellow, you are out. If you break a rule and use a skill or cast a spell beyond third level, you are out. You will continue combat until you hear the horn a second time. You will stop immediately upon the second sounding, regardless of the number of champions on the platform. Understood?”

  A chorus of replies sounded off, “Yes, master.”

  That second sounding he mentioned should signify moving to the final round with the remaining four champions, but it was also there in case of an emergency. In the case of a death or near-death, the contest would be halted.

  The guildmaster of bards turned to his side, and instead of a trumpet blare, a tuba sounded. It was deep and ominous.

  Things happened quickly.

  The space around Connor simply exploded into fire. I don't know if he took out the champions immediately around him or not, but whatever that combustion spell was, it was an intense area of effect spell.

  Further away, the barbarian yelled a mighty Yaup! He lunged at a couple of thieves who wisely dodged his two-handed sword swing.

  The druid champion summoned a giant grizzly bear, which launched itself toward a nearby gladiator. The summoner called forth a water elemental, probably in anticipation of Connor’s fire tricks. And Simon smacked the surface of the platform and sent people in front of him flying through the air as if slapped and stunned by a massive wave of sound.

  The wizard, Cecil, stood in his position opposite me on the other edge, his arms crossed, watching those around him. He would not initiate an attack, but he would respond. People were giving the wizard some room.

  All this happened quickly. Too quickly, in fact, for me to have seen all of it. However, I picked up on these details from the apprentices after the event had ended.

  There was no time for me to witness any of that because my action was just as fast.

  I raised my loaner magestaff and struck the platform, secretly triggering a ring effect. A silent, silver arc flew out and struck the three closest champions to me, all of whom had been looking at me as easy pickings.

  The silver arc of magical light struck all three of them, and simultaneously, their totems erupted in yellow light.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” The duelist to my left cried out.

  The thief to my right and inquisitor in front of me looked down at their totems in surprise.

  The duelist, mumbling to himself, leaped off the platform, and upon landing, his totem disintegrated, and a yellow flash, slightly different but close to the one before, went off.

  The thief to my right laughed. “An illusion? Oh, that was classic!”

  The priest inquisitor wagged a tsk-tsk finger at me, turned, and launched into the middle of the battle.

  The thief, I had no idea what her guild was, glanced at me, off to her right where Jakar the sage was standing, and then back at me.

  I spun my staff around using my martial arts kata, ending in a defensive stance, and stared at her.

  She smiled, nodded at me, and launched at poor Jakar.

  I survived the first fifteen or twenty seconds.

  I know that sounds funny, but every year, twenty-five percent of the field was eliminated in the first thirty seconds or so.

  Being around meant I was at least beating the odds for typical enchanters. There were several guilds that were just known to be easy marks, and the more aggressive competitors often targeted them as easy. Regardless, half the mages were lightweights in combat, as were quite a few of the priests. None of the warriors were easy marks, and few of the thieves were easy targets, save perhaps the good-natured tinkers.

  While only one of my three opponents was tricked by my illusion, I still ended up with space and time for my next actions.

  I cast Divine Guardian 2 from a ring, followed immediately by Animal Guardian 3. Both were spells collected at my request by apprentices.

  Steven or one of his brothers at the cathedral cast Divine Guardian 2 in a Single Use Spell ring. It created a moveable and invisible guardian who could either take the first 20 points of damage I received or a single blow that would be a deathblow, regardless of the damage inflicted, that would take me below zero. I chose for it to absorb the 20 points as I was fairly certain that limitations in the games would keep deathblows from happening. But accidents did occur.

  The Animal Guardian 3 spell was a third level druid spell that the apprentices got from my mother. It appeared in the form of a dire wolf, which I knew quite well, and would rival the bear should they come into battle.

  Having the giant dire wolf was meant to be a deterrent. And it worked.

  Nobody came after me during the first full minute of the attacks. Since buying time was my plan, I cast my next spell, which I got in the ring trades with Natalyia as we left The Scrub. It was called Mundane Veil, and it created a magical field around me that people just sort of glossed over as boring, unimportant, or non-threatening.

  The dire wolf was certainly threatening, but as it wasn’t attacking anyone, that bought me another full minute. I watched the others fight each other and gained a better understanding of the entire field of battle than most of the others.

  By now, the field had narrowed to three warriors, three mages, one priest (Steven), and a thief (Hebel). Broman was still around, unfortunately, and he had to be getting top odds the way he was mowing down opponents. The other two mages were me and Connor.

  Or at least, that is what I thought.

  My enhanced senses picked up a slight blurring movement, coming up behind Connor. I acted quickly, not sure who it was, but figuring that the same attack could have been coming for me.

  I used the weaker of my two Detonate rings that I got from him in The Scrub.

  The illusionist became visible and flew backwards, just as she had positioned herself behind Connor. I felt bad that it had been her. Of course, the unexpected explosion surprised Connor, and he looked over at me and nodded his thanks when he realized what had happened.

  A part of me had wished that if I had known it was her, I would have sent the spell against the barbarian.

  I sighed as she picked herself up, limped to one side, and slid down the wall, off the platform. She was limping but whatever armor she must have been wearing kept the worst from her

  My attack canceled My Mundane Veil spell, but we were getting close to the finale break, and still nobody was near me.

  I watched as Steven and Hebel launched at each other, and although I couldn't see what happened due to my angle, both struck each other and must have done enough damage to break the totems, as a double flash of yellow eliminated them both.

  Meanwhile, Broman had targeted Cecil. And he was not easing up.

  The barbarian’s giant two-handed sword came apart into twin blades. He fought with them both using a Two Weapon Mastery skill, which I was informed later was normally fifth rank for warriors, but was a third totem skill for barbarians.

  And he was good.

  But there was something about the swords. Cecil cast spells, but the barbarian deflected or even absorbed them. Cecil drew his own sword, but was simply outclassed. I was sure he did not try his hardest, because wizards were oath-bound through magical bracers to do no harm. Breaking that oath for a game could cost him his magic or even his life.

  After another minute of combat, which the rest of us, along with the entire crowd watched anxiously, Broman succeeded in defeating Cecil. Wizards rarely competed, but when they did, they could be fearsome.

  The crowd erupted in cheers and moans.

  A minute later, the fifth champion fell, and the horn sounded, signalling a halt.

  I had made the final four. Me, Connor, Broman the Barbarian, and a limping knight simply named Sir Arthur.

  We were escorted off the platform and were tended to by our masters and evangelicals, who healed anyone who needed it.

  I had not taken a scratch, which my master chuckled about.

  “Well done, lad. You spooked everyone away. And that stunt with the duelist!” He laughed harder. “People will be talking about that for weeks.”

  I grinned. “Well, at least my armor is still up, along with my protectors.” I said, pointing before me at an invisible guardian and up at my dire wolf.”

  “Yes, well, about that.” He began.

  “About what?” I asked.

  “It seems that the rules for this finale are that each champion starts fresh with no armor, mage or metal, and no active spells on you.”

  “Whose idea was that?” I asked.

  He looked over at the master of ceremonies, who was engaged in a lively conversation with a group of nobles.

  “Oh,” I said, understanding immediately what was happening.

  “Still, that means the knight and barbarian will be without armor other than an optional shield. And no fire armor for the elementalist.”

  “Uh, huh,” I said.

  “Oh, don’t be that way. Look at what you have accomplished.”

  I let out a calming breath. “Thanks, master.”

  “Now, choose your rings quickly; your time is almost up.”

  A minute or so later, the sound of the deep tuba blew again.

  We made our way up to the four central circles. Connor chose his previous starting position, number forty-nine, again. I took the one to his left, the knight moved to his right, and the barbarian was across from him. The circles were in a kind of diamond formation, at least, that’s how it appeared to me.

  “You mages are going down, easier than the white mage. What an overblown story, wizards are.” The golden cognito barbarian bragged.

  The knight did not argue with him, but I could see that he was displeased by the words.

  “Nifty swords you got there,” I said. “Not sure they will stand up against fire, though,” I added.

  Connor looked at me as if to say, “Dude, why are you sending the jerk at me?”

  “They ate water; they’ll eat fire. No spells will stand against them.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Your swords eat magic?” My voice was high and impressed.

  “Any first or second level spell that comes my way, poof. Gone.”

  My body language shifted. “Dude, you just told an enchanter your sword’s weakness. That was not your smartest move.”

  “Huh? What?” He said, sputtering mad.

  The knight smiled and took a casual, single step backwards. He was in his circle, but not at its center any longer.

  Connor looked at me. “You still have the ring I gave you?”

  “Yep.”

  The horn blew.

  At the same time, Connor cast and I activated his gifted ring, and we said out loud, laughing, “Greater Detonate!”

  The barbarian was blown back twenty feet and rolled several times before coming to a halt in a bright, yellow flash.

  The knight banged his sword against his shield and said, “Honor is served. Now let’s end this.”

  Connor and I were both overpowered compared to most mage peers. My rings gave me an amazing diversity of options, which I used. However, we later discovered that knights were forbidden to compete in the Guildfest more than once every ten years, because they had never lost.

  Their skills and mastery, even limiting it to third level, were unparalleled. I had no idea what their training was like, but it had to be amazing.

  I’d like to say that it was close. But it really wasn’t. Maybe I’ll share the final minute of the battle with you sometime, but take my word for it, all the excitement went up to, and ended at, Broman the Barbarian’s colorful fall.

  I went down before Connor. The jerk.

  The final awards ceremony for the knight, Sir Arthur, was longer than I would have preferred, but he deserved the respect and recognition.

  He accepted the title humbly and donated his thousand-gold reward, handed to him by Baron Judas, to the Keelwell hospital. He gave the bag of gold to one of the evangelists and received even louder applause from the crowds.

  But in the end, the mages and other guild champions departed the Arena and the Guildfest to cheers and applause. Most were deciding to stay and watch some of the journeymen and master events that were planned, along with some monster battles. Ordinarily, I would have spent the whole day here, but I had dinner plans and needed time to put my last few things in order

  The AI whispered into my ear. Enchanter Gwydion earns a spell or skill point to be placed as desired for completing the Final Four quest. You have earned an ability point for attaining the Final Four quest. Spell and skill points must be reclaimed at a guild hall or sanctuary. Ability points may be claimed immediately. Additions and notes have been added to your Book of Quests that remain unread.

  I thought my answer to the AI. Please place the ability point into Vitality.

  Life. Health. These were critical for my survival because death in the Shallowlands was forever.

  I needed to get back to the guild hall and make final preparations, because while the Guildfest was exciting, what I had planned for tonight put it to shame.

  And I don’t skip to the end with that story…

  Thank you for your support! Your feedback and advice through this first RR experience have meant so much to me. Please keep sending along those edits, questions, and ideas. And as this orientation arc ends, the action begins.

  Welcome back to the Shallowlands…join me with its release today! Leave comments and help me grow our community of readers.

  cqTrooth